‘New EP’ is where a band or artist answers some questions about their latest release. Up next is Aleister James, who has just released new EP ‘Seeds of Futures I Have Sown’.
When/where was the new EP recorded?
The original session for the EP was done at the start of 2015 at a great little studio in Abbotsford, Melbourne called The Aviary. We ended up smashing out enough for a whole EP in one really long and intense day. I’m lucky that the musicians that I used (Nick Martyn on drums, and Evan Tweedie on bass) are so experienced that we were able to achieve that.
Who produced/engineered the EP? How did the tracks come together in the studio, or at home?
A guy called Stephen Mowat engineered the studio session. I knew him through an artist call Leon Thomas whose band I played in for a while. I ended up only keeping the bass and drums (plus a couple of bits of acoustic guitar from that session), and decided that I’d do the rest of it myself in my home studio. I really had no idea what I was doing at first, so I basically had to learn how to record and mix as I went. It ended up taking so long that I moved house four times (including coming back to Wellington where it was eventually finished) during the process.
Did the shorter format of an EP give you the option to experiment in any way with your sound or with different forms of song-writing?
That’s an interesting question. I guess it being a shorter form there was more opportunity to focus on each track and really craft it into what it wanted to be. In my experience it’s rare to hear an entire album where all the songs sound like they have been given equal love. I’ve always wanted to make music that would reward repeated listening, and hopefully I’ve in some way achieved that this time.
Was there any specific gear you used to capture that?
I ended up using all sorts of tools and techniques to get different sounds happening. For instance, I ran some vocals through various guitar pedals, like an Infinite Jets, and an Arctic Wolf phaser (made in Wellington by Tim Prebble). I also used this tiny one-watt guitar amp and recorded my sax through that. I was just looking for unique sounds, really.
Is there a particular track or theme that the EP was formed around?
Not consciously, but I went through several iterations during the rehearsals before the session until I had what felt like the right bunch of songs. It wasn’t until I was putting the track list together at the end that I realised that there was a theme running through it. It’s mainly about my experience of growing up in Aotearoa. There were both positive and negative aspects to that, and it’s partly a catharsis for some of the darker experiences. In many ways it’s also an analogy for what western culture and how it relates to the planet and the creatures that inhabit it.
Where do you see the EPs place in growing an audience online? Do you see it as a progression towards an album or a separate entity?
To be honest, I think that my next few releases will be singles. After taking five years to get this EP out, the idea of a whole album makes me want to curl up on the couch under my quilt with a cup of peppermint tea. Plus it seems that the market isn’t consuming albums, which I think is sad, especially having grown up in a time when albums were still valued by music fans. But it is what it is, and it ain’t what it ain’t.
Which digital platforms is it available on?
So far it’s on Bandcamp and Soundcloud. The single should be on Spotify and other streaming platforms in a couple of weeks and the EP a little while later.
Are you doing any gigs or promotion for its release?
At this stage I’m just doing one gig at Moon Bar in Newtown on the 7th of November. I’m trying out a new solo set up for my live shows with a drum machine and synth. I’d definitely like to go on the road at some point in the near future in that format.